ATLANTA — A bill that would limit the amount of dual enrollment courses a student can take passed on the Senate floor Tuesday after long debate.

The legislation, known as House Bill 444, passed in a vote of 34-18.

The bill is in the second year of its life cycle, after it was introduced last session and was rewritten from its original form in the early weeks of this session.

The newest version would only allow students to take 30 credit hours of college credit courses and impose age restrictions to only 11th- and 12th-grade students. Students who take additional courses past the cap would need to pay for them.

Traditionally, dual enrollment programs allow high school students to take post-secondary courses simultaneously, without extra cost to the student. According to a state audit of the program, the number of dual enrolled students tripled from 2013 to 2017 while credit hours enrolled jumped from 119,000 to more than 425,000.

In Fiscal Year 2017, Tift County High School, Lowndes High School, Baldwin County High School and Colquitt County High School were among the top 10 schools with the highest number of dual enrolled students.

The same audit found that state spending for the program increased by 350% in the same period of time, from $17.5 million in Fiscal Year 2014 to $78.8 million in Fiscal Year 2018. In FY2018, lawmakers appropriated $78.8 million in state general funds to cover tuition, books, mandatory fees and transportation costs for dual enrolled students.

“This reform is essentially going to save the program and sustain it and preserve it and make it a program that all Georgia students can use and access,”  House Floor Leader Bert Reeves, R-Marietta, told the Senate Higher Education Committee during a hearing on the bill.

The overhaul of the dual enrollment program stems from Gov. Brian Kemp’s attempts to reduce costs of the educational track.

During debate, critics were concerned about the cap on credit hours inhibiting high-achieving students from taking as many credit hours as they desired and that younger high school students wouldn’t have the opportunity to advance career studies early. Lawmakers were also concerned that not enough research has been done to determine program costs.

The Senate sponsor, Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, vice chairman of the Higher Education Committee, argued the new provisions on the program would still allow students to access post-secondary courses while putting a spending cap on the state’s funds.

“With HB444 we are ensuring that the very successful dual enrollment program … is preserved for every student,” Strickland said on the floor, “no matter their zip code, the involvement they have at home or even what they get on the SAT or ACT.”

Strickland argued the cap on the credit hours was above what average students are already taking.

Out of the pool of current students, he said, about 3.2% will be affected by the law change. Students who are previously enrolled in the program under the current law will be grandfathered in. 

Sen. Jen Jordan, D-Atlanta, called the dual enrollment program a “crucial on-ramp to college” in places with weak access to higher placement courses — particularly rural areas of Georgia.

Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, said the bill was not meant to cap spending, but reduce spending at the “direction” of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.

“We are not simply capping what we are spending,” she said on the floor, “we are reducing it by one-third.”

Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton, said the minority party is bringing up “interesting and serious” points that should be looked at statewide — but did not necessarily apply to this specific legislation. 

“Dual enrollment is not going away,” Dugan said, “dual enrollment is effective, dual enrollment is providing opportunities for our kids and we want to make sure we do everything that we can to make sure that those opportunities exist for our future.”

Despite push back, the legislation still passed — with critics still concerned the legislation disrupts the orginal intent to provide access and a pathway to higher education for students who want it.